Elliott Obatoyinbo returns for Newcastle Falcons on Sunday when they aim to extend their unbeaten start to the Premiership Rugby Cup, hosting Caldy at Kingston Park.

The 3pm kick-off sees the full-back lining up for a Falcons side who have won all four of their games in this season’s competition, topping their pool by three points going into the last two rounds of pool play.

The five group winners and three best runners-up will progress through to the quarter-finals of the competition, with Philip van der Walt captaining Newcastle against the RFU Championship outfit.

Connor Doherty comes into the centres with Nathan Greenwood on the wing, Murray McCallum coming in at tight-head prop for a forward pack which also sees John Hawkins in at second row and Ollie Leatherbarrow at open-side.

Freddie Lockwood slides back to No.8 after scoring two tries in last weekend’s 42-18 victory at Doncaster, while on the bench Kieran Wilkinson could come on to face his brother Connor, who plays for Caldy.

Senior coach Alan Dickens said: “We’ve had back-to-back attacking bonus points away from home from our games at Bristol and Doncaster, which we’ve not had for a while, and we’ve preserved our place at the top of the group.

“That’s important because we want to progress in this competition and secure home advantage in the knock-out rounds if and when we get there, but Doncaster are a decent side and they made us work for it.

“It wasn’t a perfect performance by any stretch, but one of the things that pleased me most was the fact the players identified the problems themselves during the game, and went out and fixed them.

“A number of the lads put their hands up – Max Pepper as one example went really well for the second week running, as did guys like Freddie Lockwood and Max Clark – and this is an important competition in the context of our season.

“Aside from the obvious goal of winning silverware, it’s giving us some momentum going into the league games during the back end of the campaign and enables us to work on aspects of our game which need improvement.”

Having beaten Caldy 33-12 when the teams met at Paton Field in November, Dickens said: “People might say Caldy are struggling in the Championship but they scored a four-try bonus point away at the league leaders Ealing recently, they beat Nottingham, who are up near the top, and they’ve beaten Cambridge.

“They’re coached by a good mate of mine, Matt Cairns, who I played with at Saracens, and they’ll be wanting to come here and make a statement. They were physical last weekend against a Premiership team in Sale Sharks, running them close, and there’s nobody here taking anything for granted.”

Explaining Newcastle’s team selection having resisted the temptation for mass changes, he added: “There’s less need to rest people during this back part of the season because there are natural breaks where we don’t have a game, so that allows us to pick something like our strongest side for every single game now. Ultimately the boys want to play rugby, and they’re all keen to get out there.

“It’s frustrating on the one hand that our next Premiership game is so far away at the end of March, but what that does do is allow us to get some of our longer-term injured players back fit by the time those matches come around. The likes of Sammy Arnold and Cam Neild are ramping up their training, and it shouldn’t be too long before they’re available again for selection.”

Season ticket holders are reminded that Sunday’s 3pm kick-off IS included on the season ticket.

Non-season ticket holders can buy tickets by clicking here, with hospitality available by clicking here.

Supporters are advised that Sunday’s game is not being televised, nor streamed online.

Newcastle Falcons v Caldy (Sunday, 3pm, Kingston Park)

15 Elliott Obatoyinbo, 14 Max Pepper, 13 Connor Doherty, 12 Max Clark, 11 Nathan Greenwood, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Sam Stuart; 1 Adam Brocklebank, 2 Jamie Blamire, 3 Murray McCallum, 4 John Hawkins, 5 Sebastian de Chaves, 6 Philip van der Walt (captain), 7 Ollie Leatherbarrow, 8 Freddie Lockwood.

Replacements: 16 Ollie Fletcher, 17 Micky Rewcastle, 18 Callum Hancock, 19 Adam Scott, 20 Reuben Parsons, 21 Joe Davis, 22 Kieran Wilkinson, 23 Oli Spencer.

Caldy: 15 Matthew Kilcourse, 14 William Robinson, 13 Connor Wilkinson, 12 Michael Barlow, 11 Charlie Hyde, 10 Sam Rogers, 9 Jacob Tansey; 1 Nathan Rushton, 2 Oliver Hearn, 3 Joseph Sproston, 4 Freddie Stevenson, 5 Thomas Sanders, 6 Sam Olyott, 7 Callum Ridgway, 8 Josiah Dickinson (captain).

Replacements: 16 Jack Ellam, 17 Matthew Rabbette, 18 Matthew Ibbotson, 19 Matt Gallagher, 20 Callum Butler, 21 Laurie Essenhigh, 22 Charlie Attis, 23 Jacob Mitchell.

Referee: Dan Jones.